65 percent polling in Karnataka’s 28 LS seats

Bangalore, April 17: An estimated 65 percent polling was recorded in all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies across Karnataka, with 54 percent average voting in the three Bangalore seats, a senior official said.

“Polling was by and large peaceful in the state barring minor incidents. At the end of polling 6 p.m., around 65 percent of votes were cast in all the 28 parliamentary seats. As many voters were in polling booths at closing time, the overall voting percentage is likely to go up by couple of points,” state chief electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha told reporters here late Thursday.

Counting of votes will be May 16 as in the rest of the country.

“Polling percent has gone by six-seven points in this election from 58.8 percent in the 2009 general elections,” Jha said.

Highest polling of 75 percent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada in coastal area, while the lowest was in Gulbarga (reserved) seat at 51 percent, from where Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge is seeking a second term.

In the state capital, the high-profile Bangalore South and Bangalore Central recorded 55 percent each, while Bangalore North polled 52 percent.

In the neighbouring Bangalore Rural, however, polling was 68 percent.

“Though voting percentage in Bangalore seats was less than in many other constituencies, it is seven-eight points more than 47 percent recorded in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,” Jha noted.

In Chikkaballapur, from where Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minster M. Veerappa Moily is seeking a second term, 73 percent polling was recorded, followed by 72 percent each in Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Hassan, from where former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda is seeking a record sixth term.